System and method for monitoring and reporting a person&#39;s phone usage while driving

ABSTRACT

A system and method for monitoring, analyzing, and reporting cell phone usage. Multiple sensors provide inputs related to the interaction between a cell phone user and a cell phone. The inputs from the sensors are compared to normative data, and an output indicative of the operating environment of the cell phone is provided.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 16/060,159filed Jun. 7, 2018, which is a National Phase entry of PCT ApplicationNo. PCT/US16/65539 filed Dec. 8, 2016, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/265,013 filed Dec. 9, 2015, each which ishereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a mobile phone. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to a system and method formonitoring interruptions and distractions in a person's mobile phoneusage, including detecting and reporting a person's mobile phone usagewhile driving.

BACKGROUND

Distracted driving is an activity that can divert a person's attentionaway from the primary task of driving. There are many types ofdistractions that can endanger a driver, their passengers, other driversand bystanders. The most pervasive distraction is text messaging becauseit requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver. Thefollowing data from the web site Distraction.Gov highlights theimportance of the invention to identify, monitor, and change phone usagebehavior while driving:

-   -   10% of all drivers under the age of 20 involved in fatal crashes        were reported as distracted at the time of the crash. This age        group has the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted.    -   At any given daylight moment across America, approximately        660,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic        devices while driving, a number that has held steady since 2010.        (NOPUS) Drivers in their 20s make up 27 percent of the        distracted drivers in fatal crashes. (NHTSA)    -   Engaging in visual-manual subtasks (such as reaching for a        phone, dialing and texting) associated with the use of hand-held        phones and other portable devices increased the risk of getting        into a crash by three times. (VTTI)    -   Five seconds is the average time your eyes are off the road        while texting. When traveling at 55 mph, that's enough time to        cover the length of a football field blindfolded. (2009, VTTI)    -   A quarter of teens respond to a text message once or more every        time they drive. 20 percent of teens and 10 percent of parents        admit that they have extended, multi-message text conversations        while driving. (UMTRI)

Handheld mobile phones, or cell phones for short, were introduced in the1970's and their popularity and use with consumers grew through the1980's and 90's. Whereas their original purpose was for voicecommunications, text messaging and photography were eventually added ascapabilities to these devices, further increasing their popularity withconsumers. Cellular radio networks advanced from analog to digital, andthe speed and capability of the digital networks improved as did thegeographical coverage across the United States and many other nationsthroughout the 1990's and into the twenty-first century. Meanwhile, thecapability of mobile phones continued to improve along with the relatedadvancements in microelectronics, computers, cameras, and data storage.Accordingly, the most popular style of cell phone is now the “smartphone”, a handheld mobile phone that generally includes a cellular phonecapable of providing voice communications as well as a color graphicalscreen with touchscreen capability for user input, one or more camerasthat may be capable of taking still and video photography, a computerprocessor, flash memory for data storage, a GPS receiver, and thenecessary internal antennas for receiving and/or transmitting onpotentially several different bands. Therefore, the smart phone may havethe ability to send and receive basic or multimedia text messages andemail messages, record and play audio and video, receive GPS signals andprovide navigation assistance, and process a virtually unlimited numberof software applications (“apps” for short) for the smart phone user.

The broader category of mobile electronic devices generally includescell phones, smart phones, and tablet computers. Many of the softwareapplications (apps) that are developed for smart phones may also be usedon tablet computers, which are available in a variety of sizes rangingfrom palm-sized to nearly the size of a laptop computer, and tabletcomputers may have the ability to communicate over a cellular datanetwork, thereby enabling their use for operating software applicationson roadways and highways much in the same manner as smart phones.Accordingly, all mobile electronic devices, including those describedabove, have the potential of being able to distract a driver who isusing it, while also being able to operate software applications thatdetect and monitor the physical environment of the device as well as thedevice operator's interaction with that device.

In an effort to monitor and/or prevent the operation of a mobile deviceby the driver of a vehicle, several applications have been developedwhich utilize a variety of possible approaches. One approach has been tointerface a mobile phone with electronics that are installed in avehicle, thereby utilizing indications from the vehicle that it is beingdriven. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,294,603 B2 (Fischer) utilizes theposition of the vehicle's gearshift lever and information from thevehicle's engine control unit to detect is the vehicle is being driven,thereby inhibiting some of the functionality of the mobile phone that itinterfaces to. Another popular approach utilizes the GPS receiver on themobile phone to detect the speed of the device, thereby giving anindication it is in a moving vehicle. For example, U.S. Pat. No.8,270,933 B2 (Reiemer) inhibits selected functionality on the mobilephone if the GPS indication of speed exceeds a certain threshold value.An obvious disadvantage of this approach is that all mobile phoneswithin a moving vehicle, and not only that of the driver, would beaffected by this system. An improvement on this design is to use theindication of vehicle speed and to create a zone of device usageexclusion only around the driver. For example, U.S. Application2012-0231773 A1 (Lipovski) utilizes a method of utilizing an ultrasonicsignal to determine if the cellphone is in a zone in a moving vehicle,with such a zone being the space around the driver, and preventingdrivers from texting when the vehicle is in motion.

Other approaches have been aimed at the use of mobile phones by minors,utilizing a third-party control system that a parent or other adultoperates to enable or disable features on the mobile phone. For example,U.S. Application 2015-0195705 A1 (Mullins) requires a secondary computeror mobile device that is accessed by a parent who may disable some orall of the functionality of a minor's mobile phone based on time of dayor the speed of the device. Approaches utilizing a third-party controlsystem similar to this are often referred to as “nanny controls” becausethey are generally intended for mobile devices that are used by minors,or by employees when either a mobile device or a vehicle, or both, areprovided by an employer. However, this approach lacks the ability todetermine if a mobile device is being used by a person who is driving avehicle.

A more sophisticated approach would be to utilize the computer on themobile device to implement a software application on the device thatmonitors the user's input to the device to determine if the device isbeing operated by vehicle driver. For example, U.S. Application2015-0148019 A1 (Michaelis) utilizes two different methods: one requiresthat the user of a device utilize two hands for device input if thespeed of the device is above a certain threshold, and the other analyzesthe cadence of keypad or touch screen input by the operator to determineif the typing input is “bursty” as indicated by the entry of a group ofcharacters, followed by a pause, before the entry of additional groupsof characters, while also evaluating whether the device is moving atgreater than a certain threshold speed. While this approach may bebetter at detecting whether a mobile device is being used by the driverof a moving vehicle than other approaches, it lacks the ability toanalyze the entire cadence of the user's keypad or touch screen inputincluding error rate and typing corrections, and it also lacks theability to utilize all of the internal and external environmentalsensors on the mobile device to discern if it is being used by thedriver of a vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The problems outlined above have garnered the attention of both thelegal and the mobile device provider communities, and are in largemeasure addressed by the present invention. AT&T, a large cellularnetwork carrier, reported the results of a survey in 2015 showing that62% of drivers keep their smartphone within reach while driving, andthat drivers have admitted to performing the following activities ontheir smartphone while driving: texting, emailing, web surfing, socialnetworking, taking photographs and videos, and video chatting. (See,“Smartphone Use While Driving Grows Beyond Texting to Social Media, WebSurfing, Selfies, Video Chatting”, May 19, 2015, available on the AT&Twebsite athttp://about.att.com/story/smartphone_use_while_driving_grows_beyond_texting.html(last accessed Nov. 23, 2016), and later reported in an article by JamesGempler and Lindsay Mancini, “Smart Phones, Dumb Driving, and the Law:The Criminal and Civil Consequences of Distracted Driving”, pp. 20-24,Bench & Bar of Minnesota, November 2016.) The National Highway TrafficSafety Administration reported that highway deaths have increased 10.4percent during the first six months of 2016, and cited distracteddriving as a factor behind this increase with smartphones, otherdevices, and in-car electronics being leading causes of driverdistractions, and have stated their plans to challenge mobile electronicdevice manufacturers to design future operating systems that limit thefunctionality and simplify user interfaces of mobile devices while avehicle is in motion, and to develop technology to identify when thedevices are being used by a driver while driving. (See, Neil Boudette,“Regulators Want Devices Like iPhones to Add a Driver Mode to LimitDistractions”, pp. B1-B2, New York Times, Nov. 23, 2016.

An embodiment of the present invention addresses these challenges with asystem and application that collects and analyzes data from multiplephone sources including accelerometers, position sensors, and keypad ortouch screen input including typing speed, pauses, misspellings, othererrors, backspaces, and word capitalization, as well as external inputreceived by the phone including GPS signals for location, speed, anddirection. In an embodiment of the present invention, the system maycollect and analyze: 1) typing or touching the screen at various speedsof the device including at rest, moving slowly/walking/running, changingspeeds such as accelerating and decelerating, moving at a generallyconstant speed with some variation such as driving on a highway or acity road; 2) the cadence of the typing and/or screen touches at variousspeeds including typing speed and pauses between characters and groupsof characters; 3) the number of backspaces and typing errors at variousspeeds; 4) the GPS position, speed, and direction of travel of themobile device; 5) the physical attitude of the mobile device includingpitch, roll, and yaw of the mobile device and changes to it; and 6) themagnitude and periodicity of shock and motion of the mobile device fromaccelerometers.

In one embodiment, the system will collect and analyze data by use of anexternal server that receives data from the mobile device where the datais collected on the server, processed, and analyzed by an algorithm thatcategorizes the typing and screen touching at various speeds, andcorrelates that data with the corresponding typing and screen touchingcadence of the person using the phone. The data may either betransmitted from the mobile device continuously or periodically inpackets of data, or in a single transmission at the end of a keyboardsession. Over time, the algorithm will build a profile of a person'sphone usage at various speeds and delineate, with high probability, aperson's phone usage in a car as a driver and/or as a passenger, whilebeing able to report the results of the analysis either to the deviceuser, a third party, or both.

In another embodiment, the system will collect and analyze data by useof an application that is installed on the mobile device and which runsin the background to process and analyze the device data using analgorithm that categorizes the typing and screen touching at variousspeeds, and correlates that data with the corresponding typing andscreen touching cadence of the person using the phone.

Over time, the algorithm will build a profile of a person's phone usageat various speeds and delineate, with high probability, a person's phoneusage in a car as a driver and/or as a passenger, while being able toreport the results of the analysis either to the device user, a thirdparty, or both.

In an embodiment of the invention, the mobile device may be programmedto inhibit certain functions when it is detected that the device isbeing used by a driver whose attention is shared by the usage of thedevice and the process of driving the vehicle. The programming of thisfunctionality may be controlled from the mobile device or from anindependent computer or mobile device, and it may be controlled by themobile device user or by a third party such as a parent, insuranceprovider, employer, or government agency.

In an embodiment of the invention, the results of the data analysis maybe used for reporting to the device user or to third parties. Reportingmay be provided by an email report that is sent to a designatedrecipient periodically, such as daily, weekly, or monthly, or which maybe requested on demand by an authorized recipient. Examples of thirdparties who receive these reports may include parents, insuranceproviders, employers, and law enforcement agencies. In an embodiment ofthe invention, the results of the data analysis may be available forviewing or downloading from a database, website, or other location wherethe data may be located.

In other embodiments of the invention, sanitized versions of the data,i.e., where user identifiable information has been removed, may be madeavailable to various agencies for the purpose of analyzing mobile deviceuser behavior, particularly with regard to distracted driving behavior.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not necessarily restrictive of the invention as claimed. Theaccompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a partof the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the general description, serve to explain the principlesof the invention. For example, the system disclosed could be used onmobile electronic devices other than cell phones, and it could also beused on other electronics systems that may be contained on or withinvehicles such as automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, railroadlocomotives, and construction equipment. Moreover, the system disclosedcould be utilized on mobile electronic devices and other computerequipment to detect if the user of this equipment is distracted by otheractivities that may impede either the proper operation of those devicesor the fulfillment of other responsibilities.

The summary above is not intended to describe each illustratedembodiment or every implementation of the present disclosure. Thefigures and the detailed description that follow more particularlyexemplify these embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure can be more completely understood in consideration of thefollowing detailed description of various embodiments of the disclosure,in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts the interrelationship of FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C, togetherwhich comprise a flowchart of the processes performed during anembodiment of the invention. FIG. 1A is a flowchart depicting the stepstaken by a user to download a portion of the system, approve access tothe data, designate recipient's summary reports, and set keyboard app asthe default keyboard for the user's smartphone in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. FIG. 1B is a flowchart depicting the stepsperformed by the Smartphone Usage Profiling System after the smartphonesession ends and the keystroke data are sent to the database foranalysis in accordance with an embodiment of the of the invention. FIG.1C is a flowchart depicting the steps performed by the Smartphone UsageProfiling System decision tree to analyze the smartphone data anddetermine a usage profile in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

While embodiments of the disclosure are amenable to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have by shown byway of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit thedisclosure to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, theintention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternativesfalling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by theappended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The Smartphone Usage Profiling System (SUPS) is designed to monitorinterruptions and distractions in a person's mobile phone usage,including detecting and reporting a person's mobile phone usage whiledriving, by analyzing the cadence of keyboard strokes or touchscreentouches and other situational and environmental data that is availableto the smartphone. Once the application is installed on a smartphone orother mobile device, it will collect these data during a keyboardsession with a user for use by the analytical and reporting componentsof the system. The embodiment of the invention depicted in these figuresutilizes an external database and analysis system, thereby requiringtransmission of the smartphone usage data from the smartphone device tothe database. This embodiment may be understood by referring to thefigures.

Referring to FIG. 1A, a flowchart depicting the steps taken by a user todownload a portion of the system to the smartphone to perform the datacollection process. The installation step 110 is comprised ofdownloading the keyboard application (app), registering the user, andassigning recipient reports. The application may be downloaded from anythird party system where the Smartphone Usage Profiling System (SUPS)app is made available for download by mobile devices. The user registerswith the system, and authorizes the assignment of recipients to receive,or to access, the reports generated by the system. In certainembodiments, the reports or portions thereof may be required to be madeavailable to third parties (examples may include parents in the case ofa minor, an insurance provider, or an employer.) In these cases, theuser may be required to acknowledge the existence of these third partyreport recipients. Once the SUPS system is installed on a mobile device,it will remain operational during all subsequent usage sessions with thesmartphone.

The initialize step 120 occurs each time the user engages with thesmartphone. This may occur by turning the smartphone on, taking it outof a sleep mode, or by unlocking the keyboard for a usage session.During the initialize step 120, the SUPS app is set as the defaultkeyboard on the smartphone and will therefore monitor all smartphoneusage including keyboard strokes, touchscreen touches, and othersituational and environmental data that is available to the smartphone.In the embodiment depicted, thirteen unique data variables are capturedand stored for each keyboard stroke or touchscreen touch: User ID,Session ID, Key Press (no alphanumeric data), Date, Time, Speed, Axis(x,y,z), Accelerometer (x,y,z), Pitch, Roll, Yaw, Latitude, andLongitude.

The keyboard session 130 describes the period of time that correspondsto the entire smartphone usage session by the user, which may varywidely depending on the nature of smartphone usage by the user. Duringthe keyboard session 130, a plurality of data variables are beingcontinuously captured and stored for each keyboard stroke or touchscreentouch. These data variables comprise a data set 150, which accumulatesduring the course of the user's keyboard session 130. In the embodimentdepicted, the data set 150 is comprised of these data parameters foreach keystroke: User ID, Session ID, Key Press (no alphanumeric data),Date, Time, Speed, Axis (x,y,z), Accelerometer (x,y,z), Pitch, Roll,Yaw, Latitude, and Longitude. Those who are skilled in the art willappreciate that many of these parameters are generated internally by themobile device, and that their names and descriptions may vary with themobile device platform and installed operating system. It is also to beunderstood that not every data parameter may be measured and reportedwith every keystroke. For example, device latitude and longitude areinputs that are taken from the Global Positioning System (GPS) systemthat is generally available in most mobile devices, said GPS systembeing dependent on the availability of clear signals being transmittedfrom the constellation of orbiting GPS satellites for proper systemoperation.

Under most usage conditions the keyboard session 130 ends when thekeyboard application is removed from the touchscreen, or when some otheraction which may be device dependent is invoked to signal the end of thekeyboard session 130. When the keyboard session 130 ends, session end200 occurs. Session end 200 is the signal to the SUPS system to transmitthe dataset 150 to the analysis portion of the SUPS system. In theembodiment depicted, the dataset 150 is transmitted to an externaldatabase that is linked to a Structured Query Language (SQL) serverwhich performs the analysis. In one embodiment, the data transmissionmay occur over the cellular data network. In other embodiments the datatransmission may occur at a later time over a wireless (wi-fi) datanetwork, or by a data cable attached to the smartphone for performingdata transfer. In the embodiment depicted, where an external database isutilized, the external database may be hosted by a third-party as aSoftware as a Service, commonly referred to those who are skilled in theart as a “cloud computing” system. In other embodiments, where themobile device may be comprised of a processor and memory that issufficient for the purpose, data processing and analysis may beperformed entirely within the smartphone.

Referring to FIG. 1B, a flowchart and functional block diagram depictingthe generation of the usage metrics dataset by the SUPS system. As notedearlier, session end 200 invokes the transmission of the dataset 150 tothe SUPS analysis engine which generates and maintains three individualdata tables in the SQL database. The keystroke specific dataset 210stores data parameters that are specific to each keyboard keystroke ortouchscreen touch. In the illustrated embodiment, these data parametersinclude Day/Night mode, Digraph, Trigraph, Speed (meters/second ormiles/hour), Distance traveled, triaxial Accelerometer magnitude(x,y,z), Longitude, Latitude, Pitch, Roll, and Yaw.

The word specific dataset 220 stores data parameters that describe eachword, or each series of keystrokes, that is entered by the user. Theanalysis engine may utilize a plurality of algorithms to identify eachword for the word specific dataset 220, including use of spaces,punctuation marks, and time duration. In the illustrated embodiment,these data parameters include Start/End Time, First/Last Keystroke,Day/Night mode, Start/End Longitude, Start/End Latitude, DistanceTraveled, Number of Characters, Number of Keystrokes, Number ofBackspaces, Min/Max Digraph, Min/Max Trigraph, Min/Max Speed, AverageSpeed, Start/End Gyroscope (x,y,z), Start/End Accelerometer (x,y,z),Start/End Pitch, Roll, and Yaw.

The session specific dataset 230 stores data parameters that describeeach user session in interacting with the smartphone, otherwise known asthe keyboard session 130. In the illustrated embodiment, these dataparameters include Start/End Time, First/Last keystroke, Day/Night,Start/End Longitude, Start/End Latitude, Distance Traveled, Number ofCharacters, Number of Keystrokes, Number of Backspaces, Number of Words,Min/Max/Avg Digraph, Min/Max/Avg Trigraph, Min/Max Speed, Average Speed,Start/End Gyroscope (x,y,z), Start/End Accelerometer (x,y,z), Start/EndPitch, Roll, and Yaw.

An example of the data captured for each keystroke in a particularembodiment is disclosed in Appendix A. Examples of the SQL data tablescreated for the keystroke specific dataset 210, word specific dataset220, and session specific dataset 230 for a particular embodiment aredisclosed in Appendix B.

Data that are contained in the keystroke specific dataset 210, wordspecific dataset 220, and session specific dataset 230 are input to theSUPS decision tree 300 for analysis.

Referring to FIG. 1C, a flowchart and functional block diagram depictingthe decisions that are made within the SUPS decision tree 300 for aparticular embodiment. The registered user decision point 310 analyzesthe user keystroke pattern to determine if the keyboard session 130 isoccurring with a registered user, or with a secondary user 315. Themoving decision point 320 determines if the smartphone and user aremoving or not. In the depicted embodiment, a speed less than 3 miles perhour (MPH) as determined by the GPS speed parameter is used to determinethat the user is sitting/standing 325. Those who are skilled in the artwill appreciate that other speed thresholds may be used for thisdetermination. The automobile decision point 330 utilizes data frommultiple datasets to determine if the user and smartphone are moving inan automobile. In the depicted embodiment, parameters that are used tomake this determination include Keystroke Pattern Changes, LocationChanges, and Phone Positioning. If the SUPS decision tree 300 determinesthat the smartphone usage is not occurring in an automobile, then it isdetermined to be non-automobile keyboard usage 335. In the depictedembodiment, examples of non-automobile keyboard usage 335 may includeriding on a train, taxi, or bicycle, or running. The driver decisionpoint 350 determines if the smartphone user is the driver of anautomobile or not. In the depicted embodiment, parameters that are usedto make this determination include Keystroke Pattern Changes, LocationChanges, and Phone Positioning. If the SUPS decision tree 300 determinesthat the smartphone usage is not occurring by a driver in an automobile,then it is determined to be a passenger 345. If the SUPS decision tree300 determines that the smartphone usage is occurring by a driver in anautomobile, the profile data and other parameters are provided by theSUPS decision tree 300 to the user profile 350, which records andmaintains a record of all smartphone usage by the user when in the roleof driver of an automobile. The SUPS system utilizes all data that isobtained for smartphone usage by the user when in the role of driver ofan automobile in the aggregating keyboard sessions 400 process withinthe system.

As the mobile data is collected and analyzed, the data is categorized bythe aggregating keyboard sessions 400 process based on usage at variousspeeds and modes of movement. A profiling algorithm will identifychanges in the user's cadence and error rate at various speeds and modesof movement. Over time, as data accumulates, the profiling algorithmwill correlate the data to determine the probability of whether a mobilephone user is texting and driving or texting as a passenger. In theembodiment depicted, the SUPS system will issue a report for a specificperiod (e.g., one week or one month) that summarizes the data collectedand categorizes the user's usage in various modes of movement. Thereport is sent via email to the designated recipients that weredetermined in the registration process. In other embodiments, the reportmay be made available to the user or to authorized third parties byaccessing a database where the reports are stored.

The embodiments above are intended to be illustrative and not limiting.Additional embodiments are encompassed with the scope of the claims.Although the present invention has been described with reference toparticular embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made in form and detail without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure have been describedherein. These embodiments are given only by way of example and are notintended to limit the scope of the invention. It should be appreciated,moreover, that the various features of the embodiments that have beendescribed may be combined in various ways to produce numerous additionalembodiments. Moreover, while various materials, dimensions, shapes,configurations and locations, etc. have been described for use withdisclosed embodiments, others besides those disclosed may be utilizedwithout exceeding the scope of embodiments.

In one embodiment, a mobile application collects mobile phone usage dataspecific to typing, screen touches, device inclination and orientationincluding pitch, roll, and yaw, and other data related to texting,typing, or screen usage. The collected data is then categorized based onthe corresponding speed and level of movement. A profiling algorithmwill measure, compare, and categorize changes in the data in differentmodes of movement. For instance, the typing cadence that is specific toa mobile phone user while sitting at a desk versus walking is distinctlydifferent. Similarly, a person who texts as a passenger in a car versuswhile driving, their cadence, position changes, and phone usage willalso be distinctly different. The profiling algorithm will use thecollected data to build a profile of the user in distinctly differentmodes of movement. A summary report will show, based on a specific timeperiod, the actual number and percentage usage at different modes ofmovement. Based on the output of the profiling algorithm, the reportwill show the number or times the user is texting and driving with theirmobile phone.

Following is code developed for an embodiment of the invention to definethe specific user data collected for one keystroke press, which are sentto a cloud database that is linked to a SQL server which allows foranalysis of each user's keystroke behavior.

Code set 1 { “results”: [ { “Character”: “t”, “Location”: { “ type”:“GeoPoint”, “latitude”: 44.90551436789791, “longitude”:−93.38828821675236 }, “Speed”: 0, “User”:“D5BCD7F5-33FB-4904-885A-20737F6C22CE”, “axisX”: −0.07313892564906413,“axisY”: −0.01081749403179286, “axisZ”: − 0.1218979430989979,“createdAt”: “2015- 08-01T19:56:06.820Z”, “objectId”: “001VccyILy”,“updatedAt”: “2015-08-01T19:56:06.820Z” }, Code set 2 { “ActivityTypeId”: 1, “Character” : “Backspace”, “Latitude” : 1.1, “Longitude” : 1.1,“TimeLogged” : “2016-09-21 14:03:09.297”, “Speed” : 1.1, “AxisX” : 1.1,“AxisY” : 1.1, “AxisZ” : 1.1, “Yaw” : 1.1, “Pitch” : 1.1, “Roll” : 1.1,“AccelerometerX” : 1.1, “AccelerometerY” : 1.1, “AccelerometerZ” : 1.1}, { “ActivityTypeId” : 1, “Character” : “Backspace”, “Latitude” : 1.1,“Longitude” : 1.1, “TimeLogged” : “2016-09-21 14:03:09.297”, “Speed” :1.1, “AxisX” : 1.1, “AxisY” : 1.1, “AxisZ” : 1.1, “Yaw” : 1.1, “Pitch” :1.1, “Roll” : 1.1, “AccelerometerX” : 1.1, “AccelerometerY” : 1.1,“AccelerometerZ” : 1.1 }

Following is code developed for an embodiment of the invention to createdata tables for determining the Usage Metrics for each Keystroke, Word,and Session.

...Clients\Copemicus\3Data\SQL\Table ExternalTables.sql 1 CREATEEXTERNAL TABLE [dbo].[APIActivityType] ( ID int not null,ActivityTypeName nvarchar(50) ) CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE [dbo].[APIDataLog]( ID int not null, ActivityTypeID int, [Character] nvarchar(256),TimeLogged datetime, Speed float, AxisX float, AxisY float, AxisZ float,AccelerometerX float, AccelerometerY float, AccelerometerZ float, Pitchfloat, Roll float, Yaw float, SessionID int, Latitude float, Longitudefloat ) CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE [dbo].[APISession] ( ID int not null,CreatedTime datetime, UserGUID uniqueidentifier )...feNet\Clients\Copernicus\3Data\SQL\Table Keystroke.sql 1 CREATE TABLEKeystroke ( KeystrokeID int not null identity(1,1), DataLogID int,WordID int, SessionID int, DeviceID nvarchar(255), IndicatedActivitynvarchar(255), [Character] nvarchar(255), Keystroke nvarchar(255),TimeLogged datetime, DayPart nvarchar(255), Digraph float, Trigraphfloat, SpeedMetersPerSecond float, SpeedMPH float, DistanceTraveledfloat, GyroscopeX float, GyroscopeY float, GyroscopeZ float,AccelerometerX float, AccelerometerY float, AccelerometerZ float, Pitchfloat, Roll float, Yaw float, Latitude float, Longitude float ) ON[PRIMARY] C:\Users\tbrands\AppData\Local\Temp\~vsC404.sql 1 CREATE TABLEWord ( WordID int not null identity(1,1), SessionID nvarchar(255),DeviceID nvarchar(2000), FirstKeystrokeID int, LastKeystrokeID int,StartTime datetime, EndTime datetime, DayPart nvarchar(255), StartLatfloat, StartLong float, EndLat float, EndLong float, DistanceTraveledfloat, NumCharacters int, NumKeystrokes int, NumBackspaces int,MinDigraph float, MaxDigraph float, AvgDigraph float, MinTrigraph float,MaxTrigraph float, AvgTrigraph float, MinSpeedMPH float, MaxSpeedMPHfloat, AvgSpeedMPH float, StartGyroscopeX float, EndGyroscopeX float,StartGyroscopeY float, EndGyroscopeY float, StartGyroscopeZ float,EndGyroscopeZ float, StartAccelerometerX float, EndAccelerometerX float,StartAccelerometerY float, EndAccelerometerY float, StartAccelerometerZfloat, EndAccelerometerZ float, StartPitch float, EndPitch float,StartRoll float, Endroll float, StartYaw float, EndYaw float,DeviceProfile nvarchar(255), IndicatedActivity nvarchar(255),CalculatedActivity nvarchar(255) )C:\Users\tbrands\AppData\Local\Temp\~vsC404.sql 1 CREATE TABLE Session (SessionID int, DeviceID nvarchar(2000), StartTime datetime, EndTimedatetime, DayPart nvarchar(255), StartLat float, StartLong float, EndLatfloat, EndLong float, DistanceTraveled float, NumWords nvarchar(255),NumCharacters int, NumKeystrokes int, NumBackspaces int, NumPunctuationint, MinDigraph float, MaxDigraph float, AvgDigraph float, MinTrigraphfloat, MaxTrigraph float, AvgTrigraph float, MinSpeedMPH float,MaxSpeedMPH float, AvgSpeedMPH float, StartGyroscopeX float,EndGyroscopeX float, StartGyroscopeY float, EndGyroscopeY float,StartGyroscopeZ float, EndGyroscopeZ float, StartAccelerometerX float,EndAccelerometerX float, StartAccelerometerY float, EndAccelerometerYfloat, StartAccelerometerZ float, EndAccelerometerZ float, StartPitchfloat, EndPitch float, StartRoll float, Endroll float, StartYaw float,EndYaw float, NumWordsStill int, NumWordsWalking int, NumWordsDrivingint, NumWordsRiding int, IndicatedActivity nvarchar(255),CalculatedActivity nvarchar(255) )

Persons of ordinary skill in the relevant arts will recognize thatembodiments may comprise fewer features than illustrated in anyindividual embodiment described above. The embodiments described hereinare not meant to be an exhaustive presentation of the ways in which thevarious features may be combined. Accordingly, the embodiments are notmutually exclusive combinations of features; rather, embodiments cancomprise a combination of different individual features selected fromdifferent individual embodiments, as understood by persons of ordinaryskill in the art. Moreover, elements described with respect to oneembodiment can be implemented in other embodiments even when notdescribed in such embodiments unless otherwise noted. Although adependent claim may refer in the claims to a specific combination withone or more other claims, other embodiments can also include acombination of the dependent claim with the subject matter of each otherdependent claim or a combination of one or more features with otherdependent or independent claims. Such combinations are proposed hereinunless it is stated that a specific combination is not intended.Furthermore, it is intended also to include features of a claim in anyother independent claim even if this claim is not directly madedependent to the independent claim.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of determining the probability ofwhether the user of a mobile phone is texting while operating a vehicle,including the steps of: downloading a superseding keyboard on to themobile phone, the superseding keyboard configured to monitor usage dataof the mobile phone; setting the superseding keyboard as a defaultkeyboard on the mobile phone such that the superseding keyboard is usedinstead of the mobile phone's original operating system keyboard;storing the usage data for each mobile phone usage occurrence using thesuperseding keyboard, the usage data including data relating to usage ofthe mobile phone while operating the vehicle at various speeds, theusage data including situational data unique to the user andenvironmental data relating to the physical environment of the mobilephone, the situational data further including keystroke specific data,word specific data, and session specific data, the environmental dataincluding global positioning data; creating a baseline user profile ofthe mobile phone user's vehicle keyboard usage pattern and non-vehiclekeyboard usage pattern, the baseline user profile created by analyzingthe stored usage data of the mobile phone usage occurrences; monitor areal time mobile phone usage profile of the mobile phone user via thesuperseding keyboard, the real time mobile phone usage profile includingcurrent situational data and current environmental data; and comparingthe real time mobile phone usage profile of the mobile phone user to thebaseline user profile; determining, based on the comparison between thereal time mobile phone usage profile and the baseline user profilewhether the user is operating a motor vehicle; creating a report basedon the determination of the probability of whether the user is operatinga motor vehicle; sending the report to an acknowledged third partyrecipient, the user, or the acknowledged third party recipient and theuser.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, the situational data andcurrent situational data including data relating to keystroke patterns.3. The method as claimed in claim 1, the situational data and currentsituational data including data relating to phone positioning.
 4. Themethod as claimed in claim 1, the environmental data including locationchange of the mobile phone.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, whereinstoring the usage data of the mobile phone usage occurrence includessending the usage data of the mobile phone usage occurrence to astructured query language server, the structured query language servercapable of collecting and analyzing the plurality of usage data sets.